Inconvenience
by Wicked R
Summary: The sisters are constrained to bring back Cole, cause he is the only one who knows how to defeat Saroruka, the demon that can turn any human into his own kind. Early season 6.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Inconvenience  
Author: Wicked R

Disclaimer: WB is the God, not me.  
Rating/Genre: G/Romance.  
Summary/Set: The sisters are constrained to bring back Cole, cause he is the only one who knows how to defeat Saroruka, the demon that can turn any human into his own kind. Early season 6.

Pairing: Paige/R, Cole/Piper, J/Ph.

Note: I'm not very familiar with season 6 and its characters.

Paige pulled away from Richard, fighting her wooziness, "but I'm already very tired."

"I assume...I know it's me. Just nod and I won't expect anything anymore," Richard said with huddled shoulders.

Blinking drowsily, Paige forced herself to look at her boyfriend, sensing how tense and lacking of confidence he was, "what are you talking about?"

"It seems that having a relationship is never very suitable for you. You don't wanne see me, that's fine."

"I wouldn't think so, Richard, "she took a deep breath to gain some more time from sleepiness, "don't be silly," she raked her fingers through his hair, "think about it, how many demons we vanquished this week?"

"Well, with my chaotic lifestyle," he referred to his magical blunders, "I don't usually have time to start to think who's who and when."

"I go further, how many demons did we banish from this plane only today? Who would've though that even the rubbish men are demons? It can't be that surprising that I'm shattered."

"You? Who's always overactive? I didn't think you went exhausted."

"Darling, just believe me," she moved closer to him once more and kissed him slowly, wrapping her arms around his neck. When they broke the kiss, she ended up leaning on his shoulder for a while.

"If you're that sleepy, I'm going to let you wash up and go to bed," he moved a lock of hair from her face, "see you tomorrow. Hopefully we're not going to be as busy as today," he stood.

"You two busy and sleepy?" Piper came down the stairs, "what about me? Wyatt is finally asleep, but I have to wash him some clothes, sterilise his bottles and go for some nappies on my way to collect the cash from P3. And let's just hope not many of the patrons will turn out to be demons tonight, cause I need to sleep."

"But you love Wyatt," Paige tried to remind her of what was important.

"I wanted him with all my heart, but did I choose to be a single mother? I didn't even have time to put make up on for weeks. I'm the one that's really busy," she complained, "I mean look at me!" She turned to drop the washing basket and use her powers to blow up an incoming demon, not caring much about who he was, what he was and why did he come, "see?"

"Piper I do help you with the baby, housework and demon hunting," Paige held.

"This is really interesting," Richard noted, "they don't usually come to the house. You're too powerful for that."

"Well, now they do," Piper picked up the clothes that spilled onto the floor from the basket, "somehow they keep coming and coming. Chris went up to find something out, cause you're right, there has to be a reason why, but did he remember to come back? Just as bad as Leo."

"Or worse," Phoebe added, pulling a tall, fair haired woman with her through the door, "I hope there's something to eat, cause we're really hungry."

"Eat a sandwich," Piper offered, "do I have to explain once again how I'm exceedingly busy?...I don't want to be rude," she eyed the newcomer.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that," Phoebe defended herself, "let me introduce everybody. These are my sisters and Paige's also magical boyfriend, Richard. Everyone, I'd like you to meet Erika, sister witch."

"Nice to meet you all, famous witches," Erika smiled amiably.

"She is also our innocent," Phoebe added.

"What?" Piper stared at her as if she would've stolen the crown jewels, "I can't take this anymore. Three innocents one the one day?"

"I don't ask for another premonition and I certainly didn't ask for it when trying to get intimate with Jason. Fortunately Erika here knows how to be confidential about our trade."

"What did you see?" Paige asked.

"Not much. Just a hand, grabbing her and shimmering her away. Tonight."

All of a sudden, there was high-pitched thunder, and the whole house became infiltrated with an ashy haze that flickered like a shimmer.

"Oh, somebody hiding now?" Piper sneered.

"Here I think," they heard Richard, and saw a creature ahead of him for a second. It had the body of a handsome man and three heads, two snake heads and one human. He held a radiating stick that looked like a branding iron and touched Richard with it.

Next, the creature was gone along wit the mist, the same time as Richard was blasted athwart the hall by some invisible energy. When he touched down, he slid some meters before smashing into the wall. He shook his head and looked at the bloody grazes on his arms.

"Chris!" Paige commanded, becoming lively all of a sudden.

"I've had worse. Especially lately..." Richard shook him off when he orbed in. He stood up quickly, and started towards Paige who also came to meet him, but in his light-headedness, he bumped into Erika.

"No!" Phoebe tried to stop the inevitable, recognising the scene.

Richard held onto Erika with both arms as if steadying himself, but when he looked up, his eyes were glowing red. He uncharacteristically grinned and shimmered out with a dagger materialising in his hand that they could still see being raised at the witch's throat.

"We lost her," Phoebe sighed desperately.

"We lost him!" Paige cried, "what was that?" Her expression showed some dread. But she needed to hear the answer from someone else.

"Well, Richard is either possessed, or he's a demon," Piper filled her in and plummeted herself on the couch, leaving the washing lying where it was. If she was not going to have a chance for any sleep tonight, some indolence was the right and proper behavior.

"Elders say it's more like the latter than the first," Chris started to elucidate the situation.

tbc


	2. Recruitment Agency

Chapter 2: Recruitment

"Believe it or not, almost half of the Earth's population is demonic now," Chris finished telling them all he knew, "Erika is not dead either, she would have had the same faith as the rest of them. If it goes on like this, there won't be any humans left in a week's time."

"But if it's not infectious and this old demon Saroruka is the only one that turns people demonic, we have a shoe in," Phoebe hoped, "we only need to vanquish him and we'll get Richard back, along with the rest of the people."

"Not to mention some breather, cause there are too many demons around for any of us to think about sleep! How long can we last anyway?" Piper said leaned back, half asleep, despite of what she was saying about being too worried to sleep.

"It says the power of three should be enough, although it's power resembles the Source's in strength," Paige read up from the book, what she had orbed down in the meantime.

"The Melinda spell then," Chris supplied.

"Well, yeah, but it also says you can't trap it because he is basically mist, and doesn't completely solidify," Paige shot her eyes in despair for a second, "the only thing that can trap ii is the call of his own blood. Any relatives you can think of?...I didn't think so," she slammed the book shot, muttering, "we'll never locate him..."

"Cole," Leo orbed in, "the relative you're looking for," he explained, seeing the puzzled faces, "Saroruka is Cole's great grandfather."

"If you didn't know, newsflash, Cole is dead," Phoebe frowned, "and I'm intending to keep it that way."

"Phoebe, as much as I would agree with you otherwise, we are terribly outnumbered by demons and we are under extreme circumstances. We have to take what gives," Piper argued.

"Well, don't count on me," Phoebe held on to her own.

"Come on, Phoebe," Paige begged, "can't you see we have no choice? My eyes are red, my tired face is repellent, my boyfriend is a demon..."

"So what?" Phoebe retorted, "what's new? You still haven't lived here enough Paige, if you think there's something out of the ordinary going on," she said grumpily for being so drained.

At that moment they heard the thunder again and everything became white for a second. They only saw the branding iron in action this time and Paige was blasted across the room, then everything turned back to normal.

"Oh, no," Piper stood up and stepped away from her half sister who just got herself together after being thrown full force into the doorframe, "she is a demon now, right?"

"I'd think so," Chris stood in her way, "you sort it out, I deter," he initiated contact with his youngest aunt and orbed her out.

"You..." Phoebe lifted her arm to gesticulate towards their current whitelighter just as he was disappearing, "...will be a demon too," she finished the sentence sighing, "even if not here," she walked over to the book, "my sister is a demon, my whitelighter is a demon. Now we need a spell to contact the other side."

"But what other side? If Cole was in the wasteland he would've got out by now," Piper fretted.

"He died a human with enormous powers," Leo offered, "that means he would be where humans go."

"Evil humans, right? Hell maybe?" Phoebe tried, "that won't work. Humans who are evil enough get recruited back to the underworld. He would also be here by now."

"Well, that means he didn't go to hell. For some reason, he didn't move on anywhere past being the first stage of being dead. That means, as an Elder I could go there and simply bring him back."

"You can do that?" Piper exclaimed.

"Am I not in contact with you Grams, taking her back and forth? Of course I can do that."

"Don't tell me you met Prue."

"Yes, but now it's not the time, Piper. We need this demon vanquished before it's too late. If my theory is right, I'll be back in a short while. Get everything ready, it should be very easy once we get Cole's blood, and everything would reverse back to normal," he orbed out.

A cascade of flames shot out from the approximate place Leo was standing before, as a demon materialised. The sisters dodged the discharge it let off towards them and at the same time, all kinds of, presumably transformed ex humans were smashing the windows as creepy deep voices filled the air.

"That short while might be a bit too long," Phoebe jumped up in the air to try to finish the first demon off before the rest of them got into the house.

tbc


	3. Hiss

Chapter 3: Hiss

The demon, disgorging venom, splashed all over the floor due to Piper's efforts, making it sizzle with an olive light, the same time as Phoebe's levitating leg slammed into another demon's chest, whilst her direct punch fell powerfully onto the face of another, making both of her targets stumble backwards and into the middle of the mess on the floor and getting eaten up by the poison they soaked up.

Phoebe touched ground next to Piper a little bit unbalanced, only a couple of steps away from the rest of the attackers, almost completely surrounding them when a large arc of lighting propelled over them and cleared the whole room of the new lower level, but rather many demons out of the blue, or maybe not so much, they just didn't notice the Elder materialising back in the midst of all the confusion.

"Thanks Leo," Phoebe sighed, "that was close," she said, looking at the complete mess the whole place had become once more, "I guess there's no point to cleaning up, cause there will be more demons coming soon."

Piper smiled at that and turned to thank Leo with a look herself. Her smile

vanished, being swapped to an apprehensive scowl when she saw the lifeless looking form Leo placed down carefully on the remains of the carpet, "what's wrong with him?"

"It doesn't matter, let's get Cole's blood and Leo could take him back without him knowing about it," Phoebe urged them.

"It doesn't work that easily, Phoebe," Leo admitted.

"But you said it's gonna be easy after you got him. Besides, do we have time? Our psycho sister or whitelighter might attack any minute."

"I think we need to actually make her attack," Piper frowned, "we need the power of three for the vanquish. Thankfully, we know from my experience that it works even if one of us is unconscious, so we have to conjure Paige and hit her with something. Then, we can summon Saroruka as well."

"Preferably at the same time," Leo advised, "is there any intact container here we can use to put some of Cole's blood in?" He looked around confused. Even metallic ashtrays were melted apart by the amount of fire balls that must've gone down since his absence.

"Ah, wait," Piper was fishing in her pocket for a second and pulled a baby bottle out, "I was just going to sterilise this," she stepped over to Cole's motionless body and also picked up one of the glass splinters of the Chinese vase. She hesitated a little bit over where to cut him, then decided on his index finger. Even if they needed more blood, she would press it out, rather than hurt him more than was necessary, "why is he comatose?" She asked Leo repeatedly when Cole weakly moaned at her touch.

"Well, if I brought him back as I do with your Grams, his blood would not really exist as such, cause he would be a ghost? That is why it took me so long, I had to make some agreements, use some connections..."

"What? Does that mean he is alive?" Phoebe freaked.

"He doesn't look all that alive to me," Piper commented

"I had to bring him back alive, yes. He will get round soon, but remember, it took some time last time as well when he came back from the wasteland for him to get

back full to force and his powers to become stronger."

"Stronger?" Phoebe echoed, "you wanna say he will get invincible again? In...let's think...circa three months time?"

"I would assume that would be the case."

"Phoebe, could you please mind the spells and argue with Leo later?" Piper took charge, "Leo, could you go check on Wyatt? He should be safe, but..."

The disturbing sound for a demon of Leo's orbs finally persuaded Cole to

awareness. Shifting slightly, he opened his eyes. Why was he on the floor in the manor? For an agonizing flash of time, the bodily cell memories of being vanquished swarmed his mind, momentarily making him terrified. But then he also remembered the time he spent in the nothingness of afterlife, even if he didn't know how long that exactly was. Lifting his head a little, he glimpsed round and saw Phoebe scribbling something, while Piper was putting out some crystals next to him on the floor. Heck, he wasn't even aware of being back, who do they want to vanquish now? Him? He let his head fall back onto the floor, thinking of shimmering, but it didn't work. With the terrified realisation of a man who suddenly came face to face with his own personal nightmare, he tried traditional moving of his limbs instead, not sure if he wanted to see Phoebe at all, or was too tired of running. In addition, he was annoyed that once again they used him in some plan he wasn't aware of, which wasn't helping.

"Calm down, it's just us," Piper stepped next to him, noticing all the emotion that went through his mind and showed on his face.

"Just?" Cole grunted as every joint in his body seemed to have creaked from being unused. He never felt so unpleasant in his entire life, but then again, this wasn't his life. Or was it?

"What was that for?" Cole asked looking at his hand, dripping of blood. They took some sample of him for their potion? It didn't make sense at all. Bring him back to vanquish him again?

"There's no time for explanations now, Cole," Piper helped him up, "we need you to fight and we need you to do it now till we get a free minute to vanquish the big bad," she joined her sister, blocking an incoming attack.

By the time Phoebe threw her next kick at the invader and the second raider emanated a jade coloured shaft of light despite Piper's efforts to blow him up, Cole had already formed his first fire ball.

tbc


	4. Fundamental Pandemonium

Chapter 4: Fundamental Pandemonium

Cole cast an probing glance at Piper and Phoebe holding the cataleptic Paige's hand as he recognised the evil spirit materialising in the middle of the crystal circle, becoming aware of why the sisters wanted him back. The momentary lapse in his concentration was all his attacker needed to jump on him in a glint, wrapping his arms and legs around him in a vice like grip. Now in close range, Cole didn't have to aim his fireball, but simply smashed it onto the imprudent demon's back, killing it with it. Now he stood in the absence of any more foes for the moment, looking in awe at the sisters chanting, evoking all those memories he tried so hard to forget.

"Ashford, Helen, Laura and Grace..." Phoebe said, looking up at him for a second, momentarily flashing a small sympathy smile at him, or was he imaging it or confusing it with recollection?

"Halliwell witches stand strong beside us," all the pain he felt back then when he heard that at his apartment hit him once again and he had to check for his own peace of mind that he wasn't the one standing in the middle of the circle. Nevertheless, the pain kept sinking deeper and deeper, that he felt he had to restrain himself from dropping onto his knees and crying.

"Vanquish this evil..." Phoebe chanted, making his head pound to the extent his vision became unclear. By the time the two witches got to "from time and space," his breathing became shallow, and his mind wasn't registering other than the pain.

"Are you okay?" Piper touched his shoulder, shaking her head.

"What?" Cole looked around, surprised that he was lying on the floor once more, Saroruka was gone, along with everybody else. He was in the room alone with Piper.

"You blanked out," she explained, "what's the problem?"

Cole rubbed his forehead, perplexed, struggling to call to mind how he got there. Some fragments seemed to have been missing, no matter how hard he tried to put everything together, "I...don't get it," he said as soon as he found he was able to utter the words.

"That's understandable," Piper encouraged him softly, "you were dead for a year."

"No, it's not that," Cole knelt up, "that spell, I felt it, maybe it affected me in some way. I think...something is missing. My powers."

"I don't know about that Cole. Leo said it would take a while until you find them again."

"No, I don't think so. The heinous powers I got from the wasteland, they are gone, all I have are innocuous ones. I don't feel them corrupt ones nagging at my soul to use them."

"It would have had such a side effect? We should use that spell a lot more often," Piper joked, smiling at his momentary exhilaration that fleetingly dominated his mood over the sorrow.

"Where's everyone?"

"Oh, Leo is where ever he is nowadays, Paige reversed back to normal as everybody else and went to find Richard, Phoebe went to get hold of Ja...to see if everybody is ok from her work."

"Everybody forgiven, huh?" Cole scorned with some disdain, "for being demons I mean."

"They were only demons for a few hours the most," Piper said quietly, "can you stand? I would offer a seat, but Paige left in a hurry, without using her cleaning up magic. Any housekeeping powers of yours left?"

Cole shook his head, "I 'm afraid I didn't have any."

"I didn't think so. Ah, Chris! Where have you been? If I didn't know that the wayward always come back, I would've sent a search party after you."

"And thanks for derailing Paige," Chris filled in for Piper what she was supposed to say.

"Oh, Cole, this is Chris, our whitelighter, Chris, this is Cole, Phoebe's big bad you must remember from history class."

"Little more than that," Chris gave his hand to the demon and shook it with enthusiasm, pulling him to his feet, "I'm so happy you're here now."

"At least somebody is," Cole looked at Piper questioningly.

"Don't ask me," she shrugged, "he is from the future and not supposed to tell us anything about it. But I would put money on the fact that he was happy to see you," she smiled mischievously, "Chris, you have slipped. Will you be so humanitarian to tell us why is Cole good news? No offence," she glanced on Cole.

"Eee..." Chris started, "let's just say I'm pretty much in a good relationship with...I don't think it would change anything if I said this, Cole's daughter, Grace."

"Grace," Cole echoed, "amazing...not Prace, or anything."

"No," Chris giggled, "but you'll figure it out. Now if you'll excuse me, I need a shower," he orbed out.

"Maybe I should go too," Cole suggested.

"Where would you go?" Piper jumped, "it's late and you're tired. Well, even if you are only alive for an hour or so, you look tired after all that fight and that spell gutting you. I don't wanna be responsible for you going out and doing something you'll regret tomorrow."

"I can see you trust me. But what about Phoebe? She will vanquish me on spot if she sees me."

"What about her? Phoebe is the centre of the universe...not. She'll just have to put up with it. Leo made some deals to get you out and we need you around to implement them."

"Deals, right. It's nothing for free. What do I have to do to atone for everything? Again," he said sardonically.

"There are few demons they want eliminated."

"Oh, great. So now I'm a contract killer. Again."

"Well, not just. They also want you to be a negotiator for reclaiming some property in the Colorado Canyon that is not clear whether it belongs to the underworld or not. And the honour of some whitelighter from the sixteenth century who they maintain was a fierce demon and not a guardian angel."

"You mean Jonathan Phyla? He wasn't exactly a fierce demon, but a passionate one..."

"Oh, for...! Leave it Cole, for now. We're both tired, we both need sleep. And I really need you to do as you are told and go to my room before my son wakes up and I'll have no time for sleep."

"You're room?"

"I think the bedrooms up there are still intact and I don't think anybody else would like to snooze with you. Leo left you in my care, please Cole, I'm all-in."

tbc


	5. Comprehensive Information

-------

Chapter 5: Comprehensive Information

Cole realised he woke up to a baby crying. It was daylight and Piper was nowhere to be seen, however, the child continued screaming. Cole walked over to the crib to gaze at the baby boy dressed in pastel blue pyjamas, not sure what to do. It has been a long while since he had done anything similar, "I presume you're hungry, aren't you?" he asked, "or maybe not," he noticed the almost empty bottle that was lying next to the child and with some of the milk making the infant's face wet. He touched him with shaky hands, "come on, sweetie," he picked him up, and held him to his chest, "what's wrong? Do you need your nappy changed?" He felt the odour from close distance. He thought one second, then let the baby go with one hand to wave his wrist at the box of diapers in the corner. One nappy flew out of it and after another wave, the child stopped crying and he ended up holding a dirty nappy with his free hand. He hesitated about what to do with it, then simply dropped it onto the floor. Main thing was, that perhaps from the strange sensation of having his nappy changed magically, or because Cole was holding him close to his heartbeat, the boy rested peacefully against his chest. He was soothingly stroking his soft blond hair when Piper entered.

"Oh," she cornered the dirty nappy on the floor, "you didn't have to do that...I didn't know you could do that."

"It's like riding a bike," Cole didn't mention his magic, letting her think it was done manually. It wasn't an evil power, but he had to try them all out before he let even himself believe in the good by-product of the sisters' spell. He gently passed the baby over to his mother instead.

"I see you have experience?"

"My son died before the war."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you had a son."

"No, you wouldn't be sorry if you knew him. You'd probably have to vanquish him. He had power over the wind and did some hurricanes...but I have another son actually. I haven't seen him for forty years though. We bound his powers when he was a baby. I don't think he will ever know he is part demon."

"Really? Why?"

"It's hard for a half breed down there. I didn't want him to have to go through that...in fact...do I want to go through this myself? I realise you had to bring me back, but...do I want to be here?"

"It's another chance..."

"To do what Piper? Certainly not what I'd like to. Yesterday I was too confused and weary, but today...what am I gonna do now?"

"Live, for yourself, away from Phoebe."

"Yeah, and what if I don't want that chance? Besides, I can't live away from her if I'm running errands for you."

"For Leo and the Elders, not for us."

"Leo and...? You speak of him as if he was a separate entity, not your husband."

"Well, he isn't. He lives up there now."

"I'm sorry Piper. You were so picture perfect."

"Love is overestimated I think. Consequently, what you should do is find your own place, you own purpose, find yourself Cole. You never got the chance before, cause well, something always came up. I'm sure Leo and his colleagues would be willing to open a few doors for the success of their assignments for you. As honestly as I can, I believe your only real chance is to forget about my sister. Can you do that?"

Cole sat on the bed, not sure whether he could look in her eyes. Because what could he say? That nothing changed? That without Phoebe life meant nothing? Maybe it did, maybe it didn't, he wasn't convinced about it either. He felt abandoned, and his heart was empty and sore. He had been like this since that day Phoebe came to see him in the wasteland, but only to tell him to move on. Thinking about that, the sense of betrayal overwhelmed him.

Piper placed the now back to sleep Wyatt into his cot and gently sat down next to him, touching his arm. She slowly nodded, "I understand...maybe you're not ready yet. But are you willing to try if I help?"

"Help? Me? Why would you do that?" Disbelief showed on Cole's features.

"Because it's the best for my family if you are sane and able. Especially if you're powers will get stronger, evil or not."

"But I don't want to be alive! She is all I care about."

"You don't have a choice, you realise that?"

"I still have a choice. Before I become invincible."

"Well, we will always bring you back if we need you. You can't run, unless you get to heaven, which we can't touch," she said in a voice that could have been considered cruel if she didn't change to her gentlest voice he ever heard her talk in, "I want you to live," she touched his cheek.

"Why Piper?"

"Cause...I realise we messed up your life not believing you about the source. Will you let me to make it right?"

"If you know, Phoebe knows that too? That it wasn't my fault?" Hope started to flicker in him once more.

"She does, but she's still afraid she would turn to the wrong side. That you would turn, no matter what kind of powers you have."

"And you're not?"

"My son is meant to be the arch nemesis of the next big evil. Yes, don't look at me, it was foretold, my son. If I give him a chance, you deserve one too."

"You're so nice to me," Cole whispered. Hit by emotion, he closed his eyes and

swallowed hard. He was nearly crying. Even though parts of it made no sense to him, in his muddled emotional state, he was shaken by how much Piper seemed to have cared about him.

"I just wanted you to remember the feeling, so don't get me wrong," Piper laughed , but she hugged his from the back nevertheless, "are you willing to try now? It would not be the Cole I know if you didn't."

Cole looked into her eyes, "if you think it's worth it, I will."

tbc


	6. All And Sundry

Chapter 6: All And Sundry

Piper opened the door of the studio that was stylishly painted, but short of furniture, in which Cole had been temporarily set up by the Elders. On the edge of the city, almost out of sight, it was in one of the buildings the whitelighters have used when they had to deceive people and look like normal people. Cole didn't exactly feel comfortable there, but there was nowhere else he could go at the moment. He didn't even decide yet if he was going to show up at the police station and declare himself alive.

"Want a beer? It should help with the breast milk," Cole offered upon her entrance and to her nod, he made his way through the still alien feeling studio to the kitchen and got her a bottle before sitting down with his own on the old settee that he also slept on in lack of any beds, not having the power to conjure one up anymore.

"How you doing?" Piper enquired, mostly out of politeness. She appreciated Cole didn't usually want to talk about how he really felt.

"I'm all right," Cole answered similarly politely. Maybe if he repeated those words often enough, he'd believe it himself. Nevertheless, he was grateful to Piper for asking, and for keeping on the lookout for him during the last couple of weeks he completed most of his assignments from the Elders. The hardest ones anyway, "thanks for everything, Piper. I do start to feel like I'm living a bit. What's with the briefcase?" He quickly changed the subject.

"Leo orbed down with it. Apparently he doesn't have time to see you as well, he only wanted to see his son briefly...a number of documents that are supposed to help you in your efforts to prove that Jonathan whoever wasn't a demon."

"I seriously doubt that," Cole smirked, not believing the alleged whitelighter's innocence for a minute, "but I'll do my job and let the jury of the gods decide once we have all the evidence," he took a glance in the case setting it down onto the floor.

"How did the other lawsuit go?"

"The arbitration award established that the territory was bona vacantia, but pronouncement was fined for the defendant ad infinitum for breech of some other contracts ceteris paribus."

"What?"

"You can have your land in the Colorado back."

"The Elders will be happy...I hope they are not going to give you any more assignments. You already carried out enough of them.

"Thanks," Cole was taken again by the genuineness in her voice.

"Oh, that was more against the Elders than in favour of you," she admitted.

"What's wrong with the Elders now?"

"Nothing. It's just Leo...I've given up on him a while ago and I wish at least he wouldn't come back from time to time in person to give us his orders! It's so demanding sometimes, keeping things together for Wyatt and the rest of them," she moaned to the one person she wasn't directly responsible for, "trying to be professional about it all when Leo comes. You know I really did try to make things right, to make them work. I guess a person can only try so hard…for so long," she complained not realising for a moment what she said could have been Cole's words as well about his relationship with Phoebe.

But instead of being stung, he made her look at him, holding her chin up, "I won't let you suffer! You're not alone. How about I help you and you help me? That way we can stop struggling by ourselves..."

"All right," she whispered, "thank you."

"No, thank you," he embraced her, and she squeezed him close in return. For a long time. This man who held her was so much unlike Leo. His way of thinking, his looks, his behaviour, his past, his hopes and dreams were poles apart from the whitelighter's, and yet his tenderness, his secure arms, and genuineness was the same. So much like she found herself powerless to stop herself from searching for his lips.

On touch, he jumped away, "Piper? I offered my support, but I didn't mean it that way," he said uneasily.

"Why? Phoebe? Or you don't wanna date outside your species anymore? Look, Leo is gone. I wanna move on."

"With me?"

"You're simply the next best thing. Wait, you're better. You'd never disappear on the one you love. I've seen it."

"Oh, God," Cole rubbed his forehead, "I never wanted to hurt you, the furthest away from me, I'm here for you whatever problem you have, demonic or otherwise. But you are well aware of the fact that I'm in love with your sister."

"Come on Cole. You're not. You think you are. She offered you something no one else did. Now look around. I'm offering that now, she's not wanting anything to do with you," she walked tentatively towards him and stopped in front of him, waiting for him to act. It was his turn.

Cole pondered for a second, than wrapped his arms around her once more. No matter how he tried to deny it, he needed her and she needed him.

tbc


	7. Results

Chapter 7: Results

Chris rummaged in the bathroom litter bin, making a disgusted face. After a while he pulled out a long shaped white object swiftly. It was a pregnancy test. He started smiling while he washed his hands, "welcome to the world Grace."

Then he popped his head into Wyatt's room, "now that our sister is here and mom has given in to her love for stepfather, you don't stand a chance you know that?"

The End.


End file.
